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Whether it can save the Wii U or not remains to be seen but the latest version of Nintendo’s classic racer is the best game of 2014 so far.

Mario Kart 8 is one of the most important video games Nintendo has ever made. Its potential influence on the Wii U’s lagging sales is obvious but it’s status as a company milestone goes much deeper than that. As good as Super Mario 3D World looked this is the first time in close to a decade that Nintendo has seemed anywhere near cutting edge with its visuals, plus it’s another important step forward in them properly embracing the world of online gaming.

This is hopefully a sign of things to come not only for the Wii U but also the long term future of Nintendo’s hardware and software strategies. Especially because at the same time as important technical innovation they’ve also managed to make a game that is so effortlessly and consistently fun.

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Many people are shocked to find out that Mario Kart Wii is the second best selling non-bundled video game of all time, behind only Minecraft. Given the installed userbase of the Wii U clearly Mario Kart 8 will come nowhere close to that, but it does show just how universal the appeal of the series is. Driving a car really fast is an idea almost everyone can get behind but most racing games are so serious in their approach that they rarely attract anyone other than committed petrolheads.

But while Mario Kart 8 is vastly more accessible than other racers it’s nowhere near as simplistic as the cartoonish visuals suggest. There’s a serious racing model underpining the game’s simple controls and an experienced player can run rings round any novice, especially once they master the hugely satisfying drifting techniques.

The real genius of Mario Kart though has always been in its use of items. To create a more level playing field each circuit is littered with power-up boxes that contain series regulars like the red and green shells (basically guided and unguided missiles), banana skins, and a vision-obscuring squid.

Mario Kart 8 has a number of new items on top of this, with the boomerang being an immensely satisfying and surprisingly long-range weapon. The Bob-omb is a dangerously powerful new explosive, while the super horn allows you to deflect any incoming item or rival. This means for the first time there’s a reliable deterrent for the dreaded blue shell, which homes in on whoever’s in first place and has been a hugely controversial part of the series ever since its inclusion.

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But Mario Kart 8 manages to strike the balance between racing and the use of items much better than any of its predecessors, including cutting out the trick where you used to be able to drag a protective item behind you and then pick up another power-up to keep in reserve. You can still use shells and bananas as shields but that’s all you can hold at once.

Mario Kart 8 (Wii U) – believe it or not but this used to be a N64 track

The most obvious change to Mario Kart 8 though is the new anti-gravity element. Whenever you pass over a blue strip on the floor the wheels of your kart or motorcycle fold up and you can race along the wall or even the ceiling. When you’re doing this knocking into another player gives you both a small speed boost and there’s often the choice of multiple routes, some anti-gravity and some not.

Since the camera follows straight after you it’s often possible to forget you’re not driving on terra firma, until suddenly you notice that the castle looming up in front of you is upside down or there are other people racing around on the wall next to you. In that sense you could argue it’s not much more than a visual gimmick, but by opening up even more optional routes through a level it’s definitely a welcome feature. Especially as the gliding and underwater transformation from Mario Kart 7 is also still part of the game, offering up even more options.

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In order to accommodate all these different transformations for the karts the 16 new tracks are, in the main, noticeably wider than usual – which also helps to depower the items slightly. The circuit designs are uniformly excellent, from racing along the walls of Thowmp Ruins to navigating the surprisingly complex streets of the San Francisco style Toad Harbour.

Racing up, and then down, the twin waterfalls of Shy Guy Falls is perhaps the highlight of the whole game, while the all-in-one course of Mount Wario is so wonderfully orchestrated, complete with a James Bond-ian soundtrack, it almost seems like Nintendo’s take on Call Of Duty style linear action.

The 16 retro courses are also excellent and although they inevitably don’t have as many anti-gravity sections there are still some clever alterations, such as one side of GBA course Mario Circuit being stuck 90 degrees in the air – almost like something out of Inception. While Sherbert Land from the GameCube allows you to take shortcuts along the walls and under the ice sheet.

The graphics throughout all 32 tracks are stunning and not just in a ‘not bad for the Wii U’ kind of a way. Nintendo’s peerless art design and superb lighting effects makes the game as visually striking as any other this generation. The level of detail may not be as good as the more powerful consoles, and there are some ugly-looking shadows when the camera zooms in close, but the whole thing runs at a silky smooth 60 frames per second and 720p in everything up to two-player split screen mode (after which it drops to 30 frames per second).

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But where we do have a problem with the tracks is the needless repetition in theme settings. Many of the new circuits are reminiscent of ones from previous games, and that’s not including traditions such as the opening stadium level and the final Bowser’s Castle and Rainbow Road stages. Inexplicably many of the new tracks have almost identical themes to one of the retro tracks, from Bone Dry Dunes and Dry Dry Desert to Electrodrome and Melody Motorway.

Mario Kart 8 (Wii U) – a roller coaster experience

The amount of work that’s gone into updating the old courses is such that most of them look at least as good as the new ones (Donut Plainst 3 from the SNES is amazing), which makes it even stranger that Nintendo felt the need to include two circuits both based around Mushroom Castle and both with long sweeping curves and piranha plants on the edges.

This was a problem with Mario Kart 7 as well, in that no matter how imaginative the track designs were the same dozen or so themes kept being repeated. And for no good reason given how loosely defined the Mario universe is.

But this is almost the only complaint we can level against the game. There is the fact that the GamePad is used for nothing more than an unnecessary small map and a virtual horn to beep, but that’s still not an active problem.

The only genuine flaw we can find is the atrocious mess that has been made of Battle mode. To be honest the mode’s been on a downward spiral for years but in Mario Kart 8 the developers haven’t even bothered to create unique arenas, you just chase around in a selection of eight new courses (six of which are retro ones) trying to shoot other people’s karts with whatever items you can pick up.

It’s fun for about five minutes, which stands in stark contrast to the standard multiplayer which we’re certain we’re still going to be playing in five years time. As usual there’s four-player split screen action, while new custom play options allow you to to leave out certain groups of items if you want (although Nintendo are still stubborn enough not to simply include a ‘no blue shells’ option).

Given the party atmosphere everyone sitting around the same TV generates this is still inarguably the best way to play the game, with all the real world jostling, cheating, and arguing that ensues. But in terms of online options Mario Kart 8 is almost as good as you could want from a game that’s still being careful to make sure it’s as family-friendly as possible.

At the moment there are only journos and testers online – so we only got a few goes with a full complement of 12 players – but everything seems to work perefectly, with zero lag and all the custom options from the offline modes. On top of these are private matches you can set-up with registered friends, where you can chat before a race via the GamePad’s in-built microphone, and a wide range of tournament options where you can create your own or join one of several that are already up and running.

There’s also the option for two people to play online from the same console and a surprisingly capable video editor that allows you to record and upload clips of your races straight to YouTube, the Nintendo Network, or merely store on the Wii U to watch later.

Mario Kart 8 is a clear sign that Nintendo has got over its next gen teething troubles and proof that they remain entirely relevant both as a console maker and a game developer. Not necessarily for technical reasons but because there’s no one else in the world that can make a game quite like Mario Kart, especially as this is unquestionably the best one yet.

In Short: The best Mario Kart has ever been, with a near perfect blend of features and frequently astonishing visuals – despite some unnecessary repetition in track settings.

Pros: The best blend of racing and power-ups the series has ever seen. The anti-gravity gimmick is a great idea and the graphics are excellent. Robust online mode is Nintendo’s best yet.

Cons: Although the track design is very good there’s not enough variation in theme settings. Battle mode is the worst it’s ever been.